Middle Smithfield Township Supervisor Scott Schaller has challenged the legality of a voter petition seeking to increase the number of township supervisors from three to five.

Advocates collected more than 500 signatures calling for a referendum on this November’s election ballot. The proposed referendum would ask township voters to approve a change from three to five elected supervisors.

But Schaller’s challenge, filed Thursday with Monroe County Court, asserts there aren’t enough valid signatures of locally qualified registered voters to meet the minimum 447 signatures needed to put the question on the ballot. He says 59 of the signers aren’t registered voters, that five didn’t state a correct address, four signatures don’t match the stated names, and seven signatures have to be thrown out because they were collected by a circulator who isn’t a Middle Smithfield resident.

He also says that all signatures collected by Joyce Bush should be thrown out because of Bush’s role as judge of elections at the township’s east voting district. Schaller said nearly all signatures should be tossed because each signature wasn’t dated per elections law requirements and most didn’t state the signers’ resident municipality.

“I’ve never seen a more poorly constructed petition for a ballot measure,” Schaller said.

Schaller charged that collectors randomly approached signers in front of a local supermarket without verifying their eligibility to sign. John Ferro, who led the ballot initiative, said he and at least five other signature collectors worked from voter registration lists provided by the county Voter Registration Office.

“Everyone I collected was valid — everyone the other collectors collected,” Ferro said. “We’re confident that the signatures are bonafide.”

Schaller's challenge is expected to be assigned to a judge sometime Friday.

"They'll probably set a hearing," said Sara-May Silfee, the county voter registration chief. "It's in the court's hands."